It might provoke a constitutional showdown, but Sheila Jackson Lee believes that desperate times call for desperate measures.

Faced with what she calls a “ridiculous procedural calamity” created by House Republicans, Jackson Lee told liberal radio host Ed Schultz that President Obama “absolutely” should unilaterally use executive powers to extend unemployment benefits to jobless Americans and the payroll tax holiday for all working Americans.

Long-term jobless benefits will expire and all Americans will pay higher payroll taxes on Jan. 1 if Congress doesn’t resolve the impasse created when House Republicans refused to agree to a bipartisan deal negotiated by Senate Democrats and Republicans. House Republicans blame the Senate, saying senators should return to Washington to negotiate with them.

“It is extraordinary, don’t get me wrong,” she said, according to The Hill. “But I’m feeling the pain of the constituents I left [at] home.

“I consider this a crisis. I consider leaving Americans without unemployment insurance for January and February a crime. I consider not extending the payroll tax cut . . . a crime.”

She blamed Tea Party extremists for causing House Speaker John Boehner to renounce a bipartisan solution he initially liked.

“I hope Speaker Boehner will put aside the special-interest shackles, the backsliding, backstepping of his caucus,” she said, according to The Hill.